Buckle



BUCKLE Filed June 21, 1963 ing an acute angle with one of the short sides.

United States Patent "ice 3,177,541 BUCKLE Michael O. Derrickson, Nor-wood, Pa., assignor, by mesne assignments, to FMC Corporation, San Jose, Calif., a corporation of Delaware Filed June 21, 1963, Ser. No. 289,634 2 Claims. (CI. 24-74) cotton tie capable of withstanding great force without deformation.

It is another object of the invention to provide a buckle which is strong and yet requires a minimum amount of material to manufacture.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a cotton tie to which a flexible bale band can be connected quickly, expeditiously and securely.

Other and further objects, features and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the description of a preferred embodiment thereof proceeds.

Referring now to the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of the improved buckle showing in ghost outline the strap or band associated therewith; and

FIG. 2 is a view showing the manner of connecting a strap or band to the buckle, the buckle itself being shown in section along the line IIII of FIG. 1.

The buckle comprises a flat parallelogram shaped member or blank having two long sides 10 and 11 and two short sides or ends 12 and 13 with each long side form- Preferably the buckle is stamped from a strip of steel having a width equal to the perpendicular distance between sides 10 and 11. A rectangular opening is provided in the center of the buckle, said opening having opposed walls 14 and 15 extending parallel to the short sides of the blank and opposed walls 16 and 17 extending perpendicular to walls 14 and 15 and defining the width of the opening. This central opening is preferably just slightly wider than the strap with which the buckle is to be used. The material of the blank is removed to provide a pair of open ended slots 18 and 19 extending parallel to the short ends of the blank. Slot 18 is between the central rectangular opening and the short side 12 of the blank and opens through the long side 10 whereas slot 19 preferably opens tlnough long side 11 and is located between the central opening and the short end 13. As seen in FIG. 1, the lengths of slots 18 and 19 are substantially equal to the width of the central opening. Thus a buckle is provided having a pair of arms 20 and 21 at one end and a pair of arms 22 and 23 at the other, arms 20 and 22 being supported at each end and arms 21 and 23 having one end free and unsupported. The edges of the strap engaging surfaces are rounded or beveled as shown in the buckle, a loop 26 of the strap is shoved up through the 3,177,541 Patented Apr. 13, 1965 central opening and then moved sideways and slipped over the free end of arm 21. A loop 27 at the other end of the strap is similarly laced through the buckle. The lac ing of the strap is performed while bale 25 is under pressure in a baling press and when the press is released the bale expands thereby drawing the strap tight and under considerable tension. Because of the snubbing of the strap about the arms of the buckle there is very little if any slipping of the strap.

The tension on the strap, because of the way it is looped through the buckle, imposes forces tending to move arms 20 and 21 toward one another and to move arms 22 and 23 toward one another. The force on arms 20 and 22 is evenly distributed at the two ends of the arms since both ends are fixed but since arms 21 and 23 are each supported at only one end the entire force must of course be carried by the supported end. In order for arms 21 and 23 to be able to support as great a load as arms 20 and 22 it is necessary to provide more metal in the vicinity of the supported ends of arms 21 and 23 and it will be seen from the drawing that this is accomplished by sloping the sides 16 and 11 with respect to the ends of the buckle. The chain-dotted lines 28 and 29 indicate the size of a rectangular blank which would be required to provide the same amount of material for supporting arms 21 and 23 and it will be seen that a rectangular blank of this size would provide also additional support for the left hand end of arm 20 and the right hand end of arm 22. However since there is no need for arms 20 and 22 to be more strongly supported than arms 21 and 23, the buckle with the sloping sides is from a practical aspect just as strong as a buckle cut from a rectangular blank and of course uses less metal.

Having thus described a preferred embodiment of the invention, what is claimed is:

1. A buckle comprising a flat member having a parallelogram shaped outline with two long sides and two short sides and with each long side forming an acute angle with one of the short sides, a rectangular opening through the center of said member, said opening having a first pair of opposed walls extending parallel to the short sides of said member and a second pair of opposed walls defining the Width of said opening, a first slot through said member, said slot extending parallel to the short sides of the member and opening through a first one of the long sides of the member, said first slot being located between said rectangular opening and a first one of the short sides of said member, and a second slot through said member, said second slot extending parallel to the short sides of the member and opening through the second long side of the member, said second slot being located between said rectangular opening and the second short side of the member, and said slots having a length substantially equal to the width of said rectangular openmg.

2. A flat buckle stamped from a strip of metal, said buckle having a parallelogram shaped outline with two long sides and two short sides and with each long side forming an acute angle with one of the short sides, and open ended slot extending inwardly from each of said long sides, said slots being oppositely directed and extending parallel to the short sides of the buckle, said slots providing a strap engaging arm at each end of the buckle,

a rectangular opening through the center of said buckle,

saidbpening having a first pair of oppesed fwalls CXIQPding parallel to the short sides of the buckle and a seccndpair of'opposed walls definingthe width of said opening, said second pair of opposed walls being spaced. apart a distance substantially equal to'the length-of said open ended slots. )7

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 7 7 450,772 771,367 Thines Oct. 4, 1904 g a 1 FOREIGN PATENTS Germany Apr. 12, 1916 France Sept. 23,1930 'Germany Jan. 31, 1935 @Italy Aug. 9, 1949 

1. A BUCKLE COMPRISING A FLAT MEMBER HAVING A PARALLELOGRAM SHAPED OUTLINE WITH TWO LONG SIDES AND TWO SHORT SIDES AND WITH EACH LONG SIDE FORMING AN ACUTE ANGLE WITH ONE OF THE SHORT SIDES, A RECTANGULAR OPENING THROUGH THE CENTERR OF SAID MEMBER, SAID OPENING HAVING A FIRST PAIR OF OPPOSED WALLS EXTENDING PARALLEL TO THE SHORT SIDES OF SAID MEMBER AND A SECOND PAIR OF OPPOSED WALLS DEFINING THE WIDTH OF SAID OPENING, A FIRST SLOT THROUGH SAID MEMBER, SAID SLOT EXTENDING PARALLEL TO THE SHORT SIDES OF THE MEMBER AND OPENING THROUGH A FIRST ONE OF THE LONG SIDES OF THE MEMBER, SAID FIRST SLOT BEING LOCATED BETWEENN SAID RECTANGULAR OPENING AND A FIRST ONE OF THE SHORT SIDES OF SAID MEMBER, AND A SECOND SLOT THROUGH SAID MEMBER, SAID SECOND SLOT EXTENDING PARALLEL TO THE SHORT SIDES OF THE MEMBER AND OPENING THROUGH THE SECOND LONG SIDE OF THE MEMBER, SAID SECOND SLOT BEING LOCATED BETWEEN SAID RECTANGULAR OPENING AND THE SECOND SHORT SIDE OF THE MEMBER, AND SAID SLOTS HAVING A LENGTH SUBSTANTIALLY EQUAL TO THE WIDTH OF SAID RECTANGULAR OPENING. 